


the truth in the lie

by Medie



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Femslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-24
Updated: 2012-10-24
Packaged: 2017-11-16 22:45:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/544664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medie/pseuds/Medie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They need her to bear up beneath their panic and carry them through. And she will...as soon as her hands stop their trembling and her insides cease their quaking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the truth in the lie

**Author's Note:**

> for the wild card square of my HC: Bingo (specifically apocalypse)

They lose one of the children in the night. 

Aurora awakens to the sound of a mother's weeping echoing through the camp. She need not ask to know that's what it is. The sound is a familiar one these past few years, but knowing that does nothing to ease it. 

Lying in the darkness, she permits herself the moment of loss. Tears threaten, but she holds them at bay for now. If there is a tragedy to be faced, she hasn't the luxury of being consumed by it. 

Still, her heart sinks with the pain and she thinks, 'not again'. 

At her side, Mulan is already awake and strapping herself into her armor when Aurora rolls onto her side to face her. "It's one of the boys," she says, reaching for her sword where its scabbard hangs beside the bed. "He walks in his sleep. There's a chance..." 

Aurora hears what she isn't saying and her throat draws tight. "Of course," she says, marveling at how calm she sounds. For all the lessons and hours spent at her mother's side, in moments like these she never fails to be astonished at her ability to lie.

It isn't a lie, exactly, Mulan knows the truth of her pain and perhaps so do the others, but a queen has not the right of weakness. Not when her people need her. She may have her pain and her fear, but she can't show them when she steps beyond that door. They know what she feels, they know she is as human as they, but they need her to hide it. They need her to walk through the camp in her best gown (which, these days, is her only gown, ripped and patched a thousand times over) and sit with the mother and hold her hand. They need her to bear up beneath their panic and carry them through. 

And she will...as soon as her hands stop their trembling and her insides cease their quaking.

Mulan ceases in her preparations and looks at her. A moment later gentle fingers trace the side of her face. It's a simple thing and no words accompany it, but Mulan needs none to convey what she's thinking. Aurora can read it in the light brush of her fingertips. She closes her eyes and leans into the touch, drawing all the strength she can.

Enough, it feels, to pull down a mountain.

She steadies beneath it then stands, grabbing fast to Mulan's hand before she can pull away. It's an easy thing to tug her closer, fitting her curves to Mulan's armor and pulling her in for a long, lingering kiss. "I won't tell you to be safe," she says, smiling when she speaks. "But..." She will never say it, exactly, for she knows now that Mulan cannot listen. It is not a warrior's lot to be safe and, for all it pains her, Aurora has learned to be at peace with that choice. She may never accept it, but to ask Mulan to forgo it is to ask Mulan to be a stranger and she will never do that anymore than Mulan will ask it of her. Here, within these walls, they are the truth to each other. 

Mulan kisses her again. "Dawn is not so far off," she says, when she steps away. "Pray we are home by breakfast." 

Aurora nods and moves, reluctant, to put on her gown. Mulan helps lace her into it. It is a ritual not so different to Mulan's own preparations, allowing Aurora the time she needs to compose herself. 

When they leave this cabin, they'll go to their duties without a backward glance. Aurora will go to the mother and her kin, Mulan to the searchers, and they will bear up beneath the watchful eyes of their people. They will search and console and lead, always knowing the other carries the truth of them in their hearts, and it is with that thought Aurora leaves her love's embrace and moves to the door.

Another day awaits.


End file.
